[…] Sometime during the spring of my freshman year at college, a friend of mine decided to break out a big romantic gesture for his girlfriend of just a few weeks – they weren’t celebrating anything special, no anniversary or holiday to peg it to, he just wanted to do something – and he decided to recreate the infamous boombox scene from Say Anything. It went over like gangbusters. He drove …read more […]

That's one of the things that's been holding up my script... with a lot of the characters, I'd say yes, but for my main character... I'm a little less clear. And there's a certain amount of uncertainty in her future, which makes it tricky to know sure if I have it right.

This brings to mind the "ambiguous ending," which tends to drive some people nuts. Two films: Lost in Translation and Blue is the Warmest Color. I was really disappointed with the ending of Blue until I found out there is a part two in the works (though that may be ambiguous as well). But I loved it regardless. The fact I was left there wondering so much what could happen, made it wonderful. I could imagine, well maybe they might get back together. They did have a moment. At the same time my heart sank, not knowing. But I think that's what makes a film great. You are forced to think for yourself. So maybe a test could be, could there be a part two?

That can work for you, Chris. Maybe you don't NEED to know where she's going because SHE doesn't know. That personal uncertainty on her part may be what you need to convey ambiguity in what transpires at the story's end. OTOH it could be a sign you don't yet know your character well enough. Just keep working it. Consider what is her narrative destiny? Maybe go all the way back and look at her Want (Conscious Goal) and Need (Unconscious Goal), and think again about what part of her Need / Authentic Self should emerge from her journey.

Movies with ambiguous endings can be the best. Makes for great water cooler talk afterward, debating this or that possibility. Like Inception. Or Drive. Those questions we carry with us -- What happens to him/her -- are a way for us to keep the characters alive, imagining various possibilities.

I actually think it might be that I haven't found the best way to express that uncertainty. I know her like the back of my hand (it's Lola). I picked up a way of thinking out those final beats, so I'm going to experiment with that, and I think that'll solve the problem, but we'll see.

I think if a story is written well, if we care about the main character'(s) journey, the resolution lends to a continuation of their lives. It doesn't take a mysterious ending to accomplish this. It just takes the writer's ability to make us invest ourselves into the story. If we attach our feelings to the characters, we will want to know more. When we sympathized with their plight, like a good friend from school, we will keep them in our thoughts even if we don't see them anymore. They entered our lives. We had a connection. We care about them because, in a way, we went through their journey, too.

[…] While our main character is paramount, we shouldn’t skimp on any of the characters. Carly Watters discusses writing memorable secondary characters, Skye Fairwin talks emotional scenes and unreliable narrators, K.M. Weiland shows us the resolution to character arcs, and Scott Meyers asks if our characters exist beyond THE END. […]